On clay Rafael Nadal still remains the peerless Prince of Monaco as British number one Andy Murray found to his cost.

Nadal's dominance of his favourite surface was underlined as he brushed aside Murray's challenge 6-2, 7-6 in the semi-final of the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters.

The Scot was tactically outsmarted during a one-sided first set and, in particular, struggled with his serve but he rallied strongly to make Nadal sweat in the second.

At one point, victory had seemed straightforward with Nadal leading 5-2 but Murray won the next three games on spin as the set went to a tie-break.

Nadal took an early mini-break advantage and despite his rival producing some of his best tennis of the match, closed out his progression with a 7-4 win.

But despite the defeat, world number four Murray will leave the French Riviera with a spring in his step.

He has never reached the latter stages of a clay court event before and with events in Barcelona and Rome to come before the season?s second Grand Slam at Roland Garros, he can look forward with confidence.

The only downside is world number three Novak Djokovic will extend his slender 170-point ranking point advantage over Murray, after he set up a final date with Nadal after a 4-6 6-1 6-3 win over Stanislas Wawrinka.